How can You Kill A Flying Squirrel?

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Killing flying squirrels isn't actually the best idea, especially if you have not checked out the laws and regulations in your local area. You may find that it is actually illegal to harm, kill, or transport/trap certain species or flying squirrel, or even certain subspecies of flying squirrel. If you can't properly identify the flying squirrel you’re currently facing, killing it could result in very serious legal proceedings if you get caught.



The laws aside, there aren’t actually any smart, humane, or safe ways to kill a flying squirrel. If you were to use rodent poison, because the flying squirrel is a rodent, you would probably need to use a little more of it than you would with the average rodent problem. Although still quite small, some flying squirrels can get to a rather large size. Adult males can grow to over ten inches in length, although a fluffy tail does make up close to half of that. More poison means more danger, and also leads to the risk that other animals will get to it. You could accidentally poison bats that you didn't even know were close by or in your attic, for example, and this would, again, leave you in legal bother. You are not allowed to kill bats in almost all States across North America.

Shooting is another method you could look at, but again, you have local gun laws (and other animal laws) to think about. You must also take into consideration your neighbors’. We’re sure they wouldn't appreciate being woken up first thing in the morning to the sound of gun fire. In today’s terror situation, going wild with a gun over something as small as a flying squirrel is probably taking things a little bit too far. These creatures can scamper, climb, and glide pretty fast too. You’d need to be quick to keep up with them.

You could always consider using snap traps, or other forms of live kill traps, but you should be aware that traps designed for mice and rats will not work effectively on flying squirrels. Rat traps are meant for rats. Mouse traps are meant for mice. Using one for the other, or for a different creature entirely, will usually result in a maimed animal, not a dead one. That's definitely not the humane way to sort the problem out.

Traps will need to be set up high, and that's the case whether you opt for live cage traps or lethal kill traps. In fact, these so-called flying rodents are well known for being almost impossible to capture, and that's why exclusion devices and repeater traps are often the best approach to take. Very rarely will you have just the one flying squirrel. They are highly sociable animals and live in groups, much like the other rodents you’d occasionally encounter in your home. And, being rodents, you must remember that these flying squirrels are pretty good at getting their breed-on too. Most of them will mate twice per year, given the opportunity, and even those species that would normally mate just once per year have now started to increase their breeding seasons. Northern flying squirrels, for example, are usually one-a-year breeders, but they've been increasingly spotted having two litters annually of late, particularly in Canada.

In many states, you will need to be licensed in order to kill certain wildlife species, and the flying squirrel is just one of them. We recommend calling out a professional nuisance wildlife removal technician, fully licensed and educated to get the job done right and humanely.

Go back to the Flying Squirrel Removal page, or learn tips to do it yourself with my How to Get Rid of Flying Squirrels guide.